Ic Development

Noyce, in his capacity as director of research and development, joined Fairchild co-founder Gordon Moore in investigating methods of connecting transistors that would eliminate after-production wiring. After a time, they developed a theory that seemed plausible, based on the idea of combining transistors in a solid block of silicon. Noyce began making notes in his lab notebook, unaware that a similar theory had already been arrived at ⁵ the summer before in the laboratories of Texas Instruments, where a young scientist named Jack Kilby had spent months wrestling with the same problem.

Texas Instruments would publicly unveil Kilby’s discovery, now called the integrated circuit, at the Institute of Radio Engineers Show in early 1959. This accelerated the efforts at Fairchild Semiconductor, which were now focused on making the connections between the tiny transistors and components an integral part of the manufacturing process itself. Jean Hoerni, one of Fairchild’s original founders, came up with a workable method when he developed the "planar" process. This process, which uses oxidation and heat diffusion to form a smooth insulating layer on the surface of a silicon chip, allowed the embedding of insulated layers of transistors and other elements in silicon. By using the insulation afforded by the planar process, each layer could now be isolated electrically, which eliminated the need to cut apart the layers and wire them back together as had been necessary in the past.

Fairchild Semiconductor filed a patent for a semiconductor integrated circuit based on the planar process on July 30, 1959, touching off a decade-long legal battle⁶ between Fairchild and Texas Instruments, which previously had filed a similar patent based on Kilby’s technology. Eventually, the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals upheld Noyce’s claims on interconnection techniques but gave Kilby and Texas Instruments credit for building the first working integrated circuit.

By 1968, Fairchild Semiconductor, now one of the cornerstones of the semiconductor industry, had become a large company with many divisions. Its discoveries had made its founders wealthy men, and many of them had left the parent company to start businesses of their own. Noyce, noting the success of these young, energetic companies, longed to do it all over again. In 1968, he and Gordon Moore left Fairchild Semiconductor to form a new company that would specialize in developing integrated circuits for the computer industry.

Intel

They called their new company Integrated Electronics, which was quickly shortened to Intel. Although the profits in building silicon transistors were hard to resist, Noyce and his associates decided to take an entirely different tack, instead focusing on developing semiconductor memories that could be used to replace the magnetic core memory systems in older computers.

In short time, the small team of scientists at Intel developed a microchip that could store the ones and zeroes of computer language, introducing its first random access computer memory chip (RAM) in 1970. From there, it was only a matter of time before Intel’s researchers figured out the way to contain the entire workings of a computer on one chip, creating the first microprocessor, or microchip. Its creation set off a veritable whirlwind of ⁷ developmental activity as semiconductor companies including Texas Instruments, Motorola, Advanced Micro Devices and others rushed to bring their own versions to market.

As much a futurist as entrepreneur and inventor, Noyce would step aside from day-to-day management of Intel in 1978 to become chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association, an association started by a group of Silicon Valley executives to address industry-wide concerns that included the growing pressure put on U.S. semiconductor companies by overseas manufacturers, especially those in the Pacific Rim and Asia. In 1988, he became president of Sematech, a joint industry-government research consortium designed to help develop new manufacturing technologies for American chip makers. He would become an ardent lobbyist⁸ on behalf of the U.S. semiconductor industry.

Noyce was working to prevent the acquisition of a Silicon Valley materials supplier by a Japanese concern when he died unexpectedly of a heart attack in July 1990 at his home in Austin, Texas. He was 62 years old.

Task I

Speak on Noyce’s leadership style.

Task II

Describe the role of Robert Noyce in the development of semiconductor industry.

Task III

Tell about Noyce’s role in the development of integrated circuits manufacturing techniques.